Sister Circle: Black Women and Work (Paperback)

by Black Women and Work Collective (Corporate Author), Sharon Harley (Editor)
Key Phrases: white aesthetic norms, black women scholars, black working women, New York, African American, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Research on the employment of women and minorities has neglected the specific experience of black women, according to the contributors (scholars in a range of fields from economics to social science) of this collection of essays. They explore the meaning of work in the lives of black women facing the dual limitations of race and sex. They examine how black women's jobs affect their relationships with black men and white women (the lowest on the racial/sexual totem pole) and with their families and communities. The history of black women as workers, evolving from their being slaves and domestic workers to other types of employment in the present, has always seen them overrepresented in the labor force and concentrated at the lower end. The essays also provide a fascinating look at black women in the underground economy--juke joints and numbers running--as well as a survey of writing connecting black women's personal and professional lives. Each essay is preceded by a biographical sketch of the author. Absorbing reading. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover
Sister Circle takes an innovative approach to representing work in the lives of black women. Contributors from many fields explore an array of lives and activities, allowing us to see for the first time the importance of black women's labor in the wake of slavery. A new light is shed on black women in the tourism industry, as nineteenth-century social activists, as working single mothers, as artists, as authors and media figures, and in many other fields. A unique feature of the book is that each contributor provides an autobiographical statement, connecting her own life history to the subject she surveys.

The first group of essays, "Work It Sista!" identifies the sites of black women's paid and unpaid work. In "Foremothers: The Shoulders on Which We Stand," contributors look to the past for different kinds of work that black women have performed over the last two centuries. Essays in "Women's Work through the Artist's Eyes" highlight black women's contributions to literature, drama, and the visual arts. The concluding section of the book, "Detours on the Road to Work: Blessings in Disguise," surveys connections between black women's personal and professional lives. Contributors are Taunya Lovell Banks, A. Lynn Bolles, Melinda Chateauvert, Adrienne Davis, Bonnie Thornton Dill, Tallese Johnson, Sharon Harley, Judi Moore Latta, Shirley Wilson Logan, Marilyn Mobley McKenzie, Carla L. Peterson, Mary Helen Washington, Rhonda M. Williams, Deborah Willis, and Francille Rusan Wilson.

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• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081353061X
• ISBN-13: 978-0813530611
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
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• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #992,176 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
  
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